At the start of this year (2024), I decided to take a break from my church (United Church of Christ - Protestant) -- I thought I was just burned out from singing or performing in three (3) ministries, being a chairperson of a committee, ushing, lay reading, and volunteering time to activities the church had in the past. In January, I started questioning my faith in Christianity more often -- I observed that I had been doing it on and off during the past year, but it was a fleeting thought, and I didn't think much of it. Well, in January, it hit -- I started to wonder why we were not seeing any "divine interventions" like what was stated happened in the Bible. I thought that with all the issues going on in this country and the world, we would see something -- NOT! I prayed and nothing was happening. I was talking / praying to Jesus, and nothing was happening. I was not receiving any words of wisdom from the Divine. I was getting frustrated and thought, "What if I am just praying to air." In addition, I was becoming very disenchanted with Christianity as a whole and not because of the church I was attending - Christianity today, to me, is very hypocritical, extreme and too radical for me to practice and / or promote.
As my thoughts became stronger, I mentioned my feelings on Facebook, and a classmate of mine from college stated that I should look up Humanism, which I did. I liked what Humanism was about (The Golden Rule) but could not agree with it because it did not believe in a God, which I did -- something or someone had to create this beautiful world we live in and the entire universe that we are a part of each and every day. I then started researching terms about God only and no religions or churches, and I came across Deism through internet research.
I looked up the word Deism, which was a belief in a God (a Supreme Intelligence / Creator) and no more, and all Deists want is for people to use their innate gift of Reason and to be happy with God's gift of creation. It also explained about "revealed" religions, to which I belonged, and their superstitions, guilt, shame, "giving your life to Christ" salvation, etc., and how they were not a part of Deism. These ideas interested me, so I kept reading and came across your website. I started reading articles written by other people that appeared to have the same experiences that I was currently was experiencing. I realized after reading many of the articles that I was not alone and that I could probably believe more fully in Deism.
I am just at the start of my journey in Deism, but I can tell you that I am very interested in learning more. FYI - I am 63, female, who was raised Roman Catholic, left the church for about 15 years, came back to an evangelical church and then left that because I am part of the LGBTQIA+ community, which they could not stand, left the church, again and then started practicing in the UCC. I loved my church family, but the idea of practicing Christianity, as stated above was a conflict within me.
I am not much of a reader -- reading books bores me, but I am finding that I am thoroughly enjoying books about Deism like, Deism: A Revolution in Religion, A Revolution in You, God Gave Us Reason, Not Religion, Deism and the Human Jesus, and The Age of Reason. I am also going to be receiving a book written by Elihu Palmer, Principles of Nature, in the very near future, which I am looking forward to reading.
Well, that's my story. Again, I am very new to the idea of Deism, but so far, it works for me, and I feel comfortable discussing / promoting it with anyone who wants to talk.